25 November 2010
By Teena Thacker
New Delhi, India
Pledging for a Cause Ministry Will Launch a `Pledge Card' to Encourage Organ Donation After Death
do in life. He wants a permanent government job and, after his demise, donate his organs to people who need them more.
His views on organ donation were, however, not the same seven years ago, when his father, Shiv Nath, met with an accident and was declared brain dead by the doctors at AIIMS. When the doctors asked Ramji’s family if they wanted to donate his organs, they were initially unsure.
"It took time to be convinced. But as my father used to speak for the cause very often, we finally decided to go ahead with it," said Ramji. Today, six persons are living happily due to his father, a fact that the youth is "proud of".
Seven years later, the Union Health Ministry has decided to honour Ramji for the great deed on World Organ Donation Day – to be celebrated for the first time in India on November 27.
Shiv Nath’s heart, lungs, kidney and eyes were donated to the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) at AIIMS.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Ramji has also pledged to donate his organs after his demise.
Vineeta Kashyap is another person who has been shortlisted by the Union Health Ministry. Her father, Balram Kashyap, had died in August 2003 after his blood pressure shot up –damaging his brain. "He was into a lot of social work. So, when the doctors at AIIMS asked us if we wanted to donate his organs, we did not think twice," she said.
Balram's eyes, liver and pancreas were donated soon after his death. Vineeta said that she feels proud of her father, because of whom a four–year–old –who received Balram's liver –is leading a normal life.
Besides honouring 10 persons, whose families donated their organs after they were declared brain dead, the Health Ministry will also launch a `pledge card', which has been put up for display on http://www.wodd2010.nic.in. "Those who want to pledge their organs can fill the form and keep a copy, which may be used when the need arises," said a senior official in the Ministry.
The AIIMS ORBO organ donation registry contains the names of 12,500 people who have pledged their organs after their death. To mark the day and encourage the public in this direction, Union Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao, Director General of Health Services Dr R K Srivastava and Additional Secretary in the Ministry Keshav Desiraju have also pleged their organs.
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